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AHRQ grants $34 million to prevent healthcare-associated infections

HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality today announced the award of $34 million for projects focused on preventing one of the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States - healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). This new funding will help improve the quality of care delivered to patients and expand the fight against HAIs in hospitals, ambulatory care settings, end-stage renal disease facilities and long-term care facilities.

8 Nov 2010

Sanofi Pasteur's dengue vaccine enters phase III trial in Australia

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of the pharmaceutical group Sanofi-Aventis, on Thursday announced the company had begun testing its dengue fever vaccine in a Phase III clinical trial in Australia, Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal reports.

8 Nov 2010

Merz to present data on Xeomin clinical studies for cervical dystonia at AAPM&R

Merz Pharmaceuticals announced today that data from stability and clinical studies evaluating Xeomin (incobotulinumtoxinA), a botulinum toxin type A free from accessory proteins, will be presented at the 71st Annual Assembly of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R) in Seattle, Wash.

8 Nov 2010

Resveratrol in grapes may help fight severe malaria: Study

A compound found in the skin of grapes and used to make red wine may help fight severe malaria, raising hopes of finding a new adjunctive therapy against an illness that kills an estimated 1 million people a year, according to a study presented today at The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 59th Annual Meeting.

8 Nov 2010

New malaria drug can save millions of lives: Study

A landmark trial showed that the replacement of the standard malaria drug Quinine with the newer drug Artesunate for children with severe malaria could save 100,000 lives a year. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended that artesunate derived from a Chinese plant called sweet wormwood, replace the four-century-old remedy of quinine for treating severe malaria in adults in 2006. Similar recommendations were not made for children with further trial results pending.

8 Nov 2010

AiCuris to present data on AIC316 anti-HSV drug at Antivirals Congress

AiCuris announced today the presentation of preclinical and Phase 1 data on AIC316 at the Antivirals Congress in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from 7th – 9th of November 2010. AIC316 is a novel anti-HSV drug currently in clinical phase 2 testing.

7 Nov 2010

Al Jazeera examines international trade agreement negotiations, access to generic medicines in low-income countries

Al Jazeera examines what the outcomes of two international trade agreement negotiations - one regarding free trade between the EU and India and the other over anti-counterfeiting measures - could mean for patients living with HIV/AIDS in low-income countries.

7 Nov 2010

Tuberculosis on the rise in the UK

According to health authorities, tuberculosis (TB) – a severe lung infection that has killed millions in the past, is resurfacing again in the UK. Last year the number of cases reached more than 9,000, the highest number for nearly 30 years. The numbers were revealed by the Health Protection Agency in its annual report on tuberculosis this Thursday.

5 Nov 2010

Achillion receives $2.0 million in eight federal grants under QTDP program

Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the discovery and development of small molecule drugs to combat the most challenging infectious diseases, today announced that is has been awarded approximately $2.0 million in eight federal grants under the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP) program.

4 Nov 2010

Antigenics awarded $424,720 grant under QTDP program

Antigenics Inc. today announced that it has been awarded $424,720 in grants under the IRS' Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP) program. The grants were awarded in recognition of our two qualifying programs: AG-707, a phase 1 therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of genital herpes and QS-21 Stimulon® adjuvant.

4 Nov 2010

Experts develop tools to educate people about health risks associated with global travel

More than 30 million people in the United States travel to resource-limited areas of the world each year. This global mobility may contribute to the spread of infectious diseases such as influenza, measles, and meningitis and may also put individual travelers at risk for malaria, typhoid, dengue fever and hepatitis.

4 Nov 2010

HPV vaccine enjoys wide support from medical and public health communities

The vaccine that protects against the potentially cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV) enjoys wide support in the medical and public health communities. Yet state laws to require young girls to be vaccinated as a requirement for middle school attendance have aroused controversy with parents, politicians, and even medical and public health experts disagreeing about whether such laws are appropriate.

4 Nov 2010

World's most clinically advanced dengue vaccine candidate enters first phase 3 clinical study

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY), announced today that its dengue vaccine is in final stage of clinical development. Sanofi Pasteur's dengue vaccine, the world's most clinically advanced dengue vaccine candidate, entered its first phase 3 clinical study in Australia.

4 Nov 2010

FIP Annual Meeting to improve global health through advances in pharmaceutical sciences

Global health crises like the recent cholera outbreak in Haiti emphasize the need for new ways to prevent deadly diseases from becoming widespread in developing countries. International experts and scientists will present research ranging from developing a freeze-dried cholera vaccine to new methods of delivering medicines to underserved populations at the 2010 International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress (PSWC) in association with the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting and Exposition in New Orleans, La., Nov. 13-18.

4 Nov 2010

Aestus receives $244,000 grant from QTDP program

Today Aestus Therapeutics, Inc. announced that it has been awarded a $244,000 grant from the U.S. Government's Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project program.

4 Nov 2010

Modified sugar compound protects against world's deadliest viruses

When a team of European researchers sought to discover how a class of antiviral drugs worked, they looked in an unlikely place: the sugar dish. A new research report appearing in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology suggests that a purified and modified form of a simple sugar chain may stop fast-acting and deadly viruses, such as Ebola, Lassa, or Marburg viruses, in their tracks.

4 Nov 2010

Cempra to present information on solithromycin antimalarial agent at Atlanta Annual Meeting

Cempra Pharmaceuticals today announced abstracts to be presented on its novel fluoroketolide antibiotic, solithromycin (CEM-101), at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 59th Annual Meeting, November 3 to 7 in Atlanta. The abstracts will present new information on solithromycin's antimalarial activity. Additional data will demonstrate activity against Mycobacterium leprae.

4 Nov 2010

pSivida awarded $489,000 grant under IRS Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project

pSivida Corp., a leader in the development of sustained release drug delivery products for the treatment of back-of-the-eye disease including the product candidate Iluvien™ for the treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema, today announced that it has been awarded two grants totaling $489,000 under the IRS Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP). The grants were awarded to pSivida to help fund further research on new generations of the company's drug delivery technologies targeting ophthalmic diseases.

4 Nov 2010

Cocrystal receives $733,438 in grants from QTDP program

Cocrystal Discovery, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel antiviral therapeutics for the treatment of serious and chronic viral diseases, announced today that it has received $733,438 in grants from the Qualified Therapeutic Discovery Project (QTDP) administered under section 48D of the Internal Revenue Code.

4 Nov 2010

Florida to drop 350 uninsured HIV/AIDS patients from drug program; Ore. and Wash. set up enrollment periods for children's insurance; Calif. gets federal grant to update Medicaid program

The Miami Herald/The Sun Sentinel: "The Florida Department of Health plans to drop about 350 uninsured HIV/AIDS patients from a federally funded program that pays for all or most of their drugs, because of a budget crisis. An additional 2,000 or more HIV-positive patients are at risk of being bumped from the program unless the state can close a $16 million shortfall in the next few months, officials said Tuesday.

4 Nov 2010